Time teacher



Juhe 12, 1956 D. B. JONES 2,749,627

TIME TEACHER Filed Jan. 7, 1955 7p, w 26 g F TIME TEACHER 1/ I v I OM/DN/GHT o o 9 M/DN/GHTTO NOON I INVENTOR.

United States Patent O TIME TEACHER Donald B. Jones, Douora, Pa.

Application January 7, 1955, Serial No. 480,344

1 Claim. (Cl. 35-39) This invention relates to time teaching devices.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a toy which will teach children to tell time with a minimum of time and effort.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a toy to teach children to tell time which is both entertaining and educational.

Other objects of the present invention are to provide a time teaching toy of the above type which is of simple construction, inexpensive to manufacture, has a minimum number of parts, is easy to use and efiicient in operation.

For other objects and a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view thereof taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view thereof taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Referring now more in detail to the drawing, represents a baseboard of cardboard or other suitable material having printed thereon a dial 11 simulating the appearance of a clock or watch dial substantially as illustrated.

A circular revolving dial 12 of cardboard or other suitable material is rotatably mounted on top of the baseboard 10 within the dial 11 by means of a bolt 13 and a nut 14, a washer 15 being provided intermediate the dial 12 and the baseboard 10 (Fig. 3) to facilitate rotational movement.

The baseboard 10 within the dial 11 has printed thereon a plurality of numbers 16 which are aligned radially with various characters of the dial 11 and correspond in value to the minutes before and after the hour when the minute hand intersects the same, as will hereinafter become clear.

The dial 12 is provided with a plurality of openings 17 adapted to expose or cover all of the numbers 16 simultaneously, as shown in Fig. 1. The dial 12 is provided with an arcuate slot 18 within which rides a stop bolt or pin 19 passing upwardly through the baseboard 10 and secured in position by means of a nut 20 underlying the dial 12. Thus, the bolt 19 will limit the rotational movement of the dial 12 to the number exposing position of Fig. 1, or when rotated clockwise to a number covering position which will conceal all the numbers simultaneously when the bolt 19 rests in the upper end of the slot 18.

Plastic hour hand 21 and plastic minute hand 22 are ice rotatably mounted on the upper end of the bolt 13 intermediate the dial 12 and nut 14, a washer 23 being provided intermediate the hands 21 and 22.

The dial 12 is divided into symmetrical halves by means of the lines 24, one of the halves being labeled After the Hour and the other of the halves being labeled To the Hour, substantially as illustrated. Thus, the numbers 16 appearing through the opening 17 on the right hand side of the dial 12 will be interpreted by After the Hour while the numbers 16 appearing through the opening 17 on the left hand side of the dial will be interpreted by To the Hour.

In operation, the revolving dial 12 is rotated until the stop bolt 19 is at the upper end of slot 18, and the numbers 16 are completely concealed. The child is then taught to tell the different hours of the day by turning the hour hand 12 to the various hours of the dial 11. When the child has mastered this phase of telling time, the revolving dial 12 is rotated to the position of Fig. 1 to expose the numbers 16 through their respective openings 17. The numbers 16 will then be aligned with the minute hand 22 at any position to give a direct reading of the number of minutes after the hour or to the hour, as will be obvious. When it is thought that the child has mastered this phase of telling time, the revolving dial 12 is rotated to cover the numbers 16, and the child is tested to see how well he has mastered this phase.

Finally, the child may be taught that part of the day that is referred to as a. m. and p. m. by the two illustrations indicated at 25 and 26 provided on the baseboard 10 below the dial 11.

While various changes may be made in the detail construction, it shall be understood that such changes shall be within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claim.

What I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States is:

A time teaching device comprising a baseboard having a clock dial thereon, a rotatable dial concentric and within said baseboard dial, means for rotatably mounting said revolving dial on said baseboard, indicia carried by said baseboard within said clock dial and aligned radially with the indicia of said clock dial, said revolving dial having a plurality of angularly and radially spaced openings adapted to expose all or simultaneously cover all of said aligned indicia, said aligned indicia being adapted to give by direct reading the minutes after the hour on one side and the minutes before the hour on the other side, means for limiting the movement of said revolving dial to an exposing or concealing position and an hour and minute hand rotatably mounted on said revolving dial concentric with the same, said hour and minute hand being transparent so as to permit readings of said aligned indicia therebelow.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,143,519 Edmiston June 15, 1915 1,858,153 Hammond May 10, 1932 2,172,450 Pitcher Sept. 12, 1939 2,443,468 Madden June 15, 1948 2,655,739 Wilmington Oct. 20, 1953 2,695,463 Spooner Nov. 30, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 65,754 Switzerland Dec. 23, 1913 

